FG makes thesis submission mandatory for NYSC participants

The Federal Government of Nigeria has made the submission of academic theses and project reports a mandatory requirement for all graduates seeking mobilization into or exemption from the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme.¹ This directive is part of a broader reform aimed at safeguarding the nation’s intellectual assets and combating certificate racketeering.²

The new policy is an implementation of the National Policy for the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD), which was approved by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.³ The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, issued a circular detailing the new requirement, which will take effect from October 6, 2025.⁴

Here are the key aspects of the new policy:

• Mandatory Submission: All graduates, whether from Nigerian or foreign universities, polytechnics, or colleges of education, must now deposit their academic outputs, including theses and project reports, into the NERD databank.⁵
• NYSC as a Checkpoint: The NYSC will now serve as a quality assurance checkpoint, ensuring that prospective corps members have complied with the NERD policy before they are mobilized or granted exemption certificates.⁶ This is seen as a strategic move to clean up the academic system and restore credibility to educational qualifications.⁷
• Combating Certificate Fraud: A key objective of this reform is to check the rampant issue of certificate racketeering and the abuse of academic honors.⁸ By making the submission of academic work a pre-condition for NYSC, the government aims to create a verifiable and transparent system that ensures graduates have genuinely completed their academic programs.⁹
• Monetization and Reward: The approved NERD policy also includes a mechanism for monetizing academic outputs.¹⁰ This means that students and their lecturers can earn lifetime revenues from their scholarly works deposited in the national repository, providing an incentive for high-quality research.¹¹
• No Exception for Foreign Graduates: The directive applies equally to all Nigerian graduates, regardless of where they obtained their degrees.¹² This move is intended to ensure that academic standards are upheld across the board and that foreign-trained graduates are also verified.¹³

The government believes this initiative will not only protect the integrity of Nigeria’s educational system but also create a valuable national repository of knowledge that can be utilized for research and development. The policy, however, does not affect corps members who are already serving or those who were enrolled before the October 6th enforcement date.¹⁴